“Millions of yen a month with an AI side hustle. For a limited time, I'll show you how.”
Right. I came here to read about development, though.
I usually follow developers and tech accounts from Japan and abroad on X. News about new AI and development tools, posts from people building things on their own. Following developers overseas is fun, too, because I come across things I hadn't heard of.
What did they build? How did they get it working? Where did they get stuck?
I like seeing the finished thing, and I like reading about the trial and error along the way. I build various things myself, so I'm interested in what went wrong as well as what went right.
And when I'm looking for that kind of information, these inevitably turn up.
“Anyone can make money with AI.”
“Still doing the work yourself?”
“I'll teach you for free, but only now.”
Here we go again.
At first, I read it thinking it might be about some new way to use a tool. But as I keep reading, I'm sent to a pinned post, another page, some signup form. I thought I was reading about development. Somewhere along the way, it turned into a pitch for a product about making money.
And every time, I have the same question.
If it makes that much money, why teach other people how to do it?
If I had some AI setup that was making me steady money, I think I'd just quietly keep doing it.
I don't really understand why I'd go out of my way to tell anyone and everyone “I'll show you how, for a limited time” and get more people doing the same thing.
If teaching is your job, I get that. You explain what's in the course, put a price on it, and people who want it buy it. Then it's clear what you're selling.
But when the story starts with “I make money using this AI method,” and all I end up seeing is sales pitches for that method, something doesn't sit right with me.
Are you making money from the method? Or is the product that teaches the method selling well?
To me, that's a pretty big difference.
You can show me monthly earnings in the millions of yen or screenshots of big payments, but that alone doesn't tell me what was sold to bring that money in. I don't know how much was left after expenses, either, or what happened to the people who tried doing the same thing.
The numbers are big. The parts I actually want to know about rarely show up.
What I get instead is “Only the first few people,” “Free this time only,” and “You're missing out if you don't know this.”
And somehow, the tone is often weirdly condescending.
“You haven't started yet?”
“People who don't take action never change.”
“It's such a waste not to know this.”
Hang on a second.
I don't remember asking this person for life advice. I don't remember asking them to teach me how to make money, either.
I was just reading developers' posts, and now, somehow, my willingness to take action is being graded.
That's just cringe.
If you just want to show off how much you made, fine. “Good for you,” and that's that.
But you cast me as the one falling behind, get me worried, and then out comes the product pitch. By that point, I've lost all interest in reading it as a discussion about technology.
I get wanting to make money. Making something and selling it takes time and effort.
Still, I don't want to get involved with someone who hooks me with impressive numbers, stirs up anxiety, and tries to get me to sign up before I've had a chance to figure out whether I trust them.
When I see these posts over and over, I suppose there must be people who respond to them.
But I'm not interested in playing along.
Honestly, just do your thing and leave me out of it.
There are people on X actually building interesting things. People sharing useful tools, posting code, or struggling to get something working.
I want to read more of those posts.
Seeing something finished and wondering “How did they build that bit?” before looking into it. Finding an idea for my own work in someone's account of a failed attempt. I enjoy spending time on that.
Except, along the way, I keep running into pitches from people who “teach you how to make money with AI.”
Sure, I could just scroll past each one. But watching a place where I look for development information fill up with the same kinds of pitches is, frankly, annoying.
I want to connect with people who show what they've built and what they've tried.
I don't need this many teachers I never asked for.
…Having written all that, though, there are other things I want to spend my time on.
Cyberpunk 2077 has an update out, too. Add Edgerunners to the mix, and there just aren't enough hours.
I want to build things, play games, and watch anime.
I haven't got time to read one “I'll show you how, for a limited time” after another. lol